Game apparatus



l (No Model@ 2 sheets-#sheet 2.

E. G. HOWELL.

, GAMB APPARATUS. l No. 529,913. Patented Nov.27, 1894.

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UNITED S/irl-rrnslv PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN C. HOWELL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

GAME APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters 'Patent No. 529,913, dated November 27, 189,4. Application filed February 19, 1894. Serial No. 500,684. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWIN O. HOWELL, of Boston, county of Suolk, State of -Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Game Apparatus, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specication,like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel game apparatus for use as a toy, and also as a means of instruction in the playing of various standard games.

In accordance with this invention I provide a game board with a suitable holder for the reception of a card or carrieru-pon which are displayed diagrams of characters representing the objects, commonly called pieces or men, whichin the true game are moved about on the surface of the board, these characters being visible through openings in the board,

. or through the board itself when the latter is made of a transparent material. Each diagrain represents the characters in a dierent position, so that if the diagrams be successively brought into playing position beneath the board, the different arrangements of characters in the severald-iagrarns` represent so many changes in the position of the pieces or men upon the board, 7.'. e., represent the different plays or moves of the game. The diagrams illustrating these different plays or moves may be arranged upon independent cards or carriers, or they may be arranged or displayed upon a single 'continuous card or carrier which is moved along step by step to bring the different diagrams successively into playing position beneath the board.

By the term playing position as herein used, is meant that Aposition beneath the board in which the characters of a diagram are so located as to be read from and through the top of the board by the player. t

Figure l of the drawings represents in top or plan view one form of game apparatus embodying my invention', the left half of the game board being broken away to expose the carrier beneath, upon which are displayed the diagrams-for indicatingthe various plays or moves. Fig. 2 is a cross section of Fig. l taken on the dotted linea-9a. Fig. 3 is a top or plan view of a modified construction of apparatus embodying my invention,and Fig. a is a cross sectionof the same taken on the dotted line jz/-y.

This invention includes or is applicable to all gaines in which a series of objects, coinmonly called pieces or men, are moved into different positions upon a game board, but in order to illustrate my invention I have herein shown and shall describe the same in connection with a chess board and its characters, the game of chess being one of the standard games and widely known.

Referring to the drawings Figs. l and 2, a represents a game board, shown as a chess board, which may be of any desired construction or material, the material in the construc- 'tions Figs. l and 2, however, being non-transparent. The board a is provided with one or more, herein shown as two, holders b, b, of suitable shape and construction to receive and hold the carrier or carriers upon which` are displayed the several diagrams representing the different moves.

vIn Figs. l and 2 the holders b, b, are shown in the form of rollers journaled at their opposite ends in brackets c, c, attached to the under side of the board ct, said rollers at one or both ends outside said brackets being tted with linger pieces b', b by means of which said rollers may be rotated for a purpose to be described. p

Upon the roller holders b, b, I have mounted a carrier or strip d, preferably of a Width substantially equal to that of the game board, said carrier being moved beneaththe board in opposite directions at will by rotation of one or the other of the rollers b, b.

The board a is divided by lines a into the squares or divisionsy of a chess board, each square containing an opening a2 through which is exposed a part ofA the carrier dboneath. Looking crosswise at the board herein= shown, 'L'. e., at right angles to theline of movement of the carrier d, the openings a2 in the several cross series of squares are in line; but llooking lengthwise at the board, t'. e.,- in the direction of the line of travel of the carrier,

the openings of each longitudinal series of squares are offset one from the other, as shown, so that each opening may have its own 1nde- IOO pendent line or series of characters on the carrier, which, by movement of the carrier, may

be caused to pass beneath and be exposed at said openings without being exposed at any of the other openings in the board.

The characters of the game are diagram matically displayed upon the carrier d, as shown in the drawings, but, to save labor in making the drawings, the same character has not been repeated a large number of times for each series, as it will be repeated upon the apparatus itself, but after having been repeated on ce or twice its further continuance in that series is represented by a series of figures; for example, the figures l, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 1l are characters representing respectively white pieces or men, known respectively as a rook, a knight, a bishop, a king, a queen and a pawn; while the iigures 2, 4, 6, 8,10 and 12, are characters representing black pieces or men vof the same names. These characters, both black and white, are displayed upon different diagramsin different relative positions, each diagram representing the position of the characters after a single move, the characters in each diagram being so arranged that they will appear beneath certain of the openings or squares in the game board, representing changes in the positions of the actual pieces or men upon the board in the true game. For example, in Fig. l, in the right-hand por tion of the board which is not broken away, it will be seen that, beginning at the right, the white characters, indicated by the odd numbers, and known by the names of rook, knight, bishop, and king, appear in successive squares in the lowermost row, and in the second rowappear four pawns in as manysquares, while in the upper portion of the board, in the top row and indicated by even numbers, appear the rook, knight, bishop and king, and in the second row four pawns in as many squares.

These are the positions that the said characters and the actual pieces or men represented by them, will occupy at the beginning of the game and prior to the iirst move. If, now, the operator turn the holder b at the right of the board slightly to move the carrier to the right, a new diagram, i, e., a new set of characters, will be brought into position beneath the several squares of the board, and the pawn beneath the fourth square from the right of the second row from the bottom will disappear, and a pawn will appear beneath the fourth square from the right of the fourth row from the bottom, indicating a movement of a pawn, one of the actual pieces or men used in the true game,fromthe fourth square of the second row to the fourth square of the fourth, this being the iirst move of the game. The pawn moved into position beneath the fourth square of the fourth rowis the first of a series of pawns which successively appear through the same opening at successive moves, showing that the actual pawn moved upon the board, as thus indicated, to the fourth square of the fourth row, remains unmoved so long as such series .of pawns upon the carrier lasts, representing a certain number of moves. A second forward momement of the carrier leaves all the white characters, represented by odd numbers, in the positions in which they were left after the first move, but causes the pawn beneath the fourth square from the right of the second row fromthe top to disappear, and a pawn to appear beneath the fourth square of the fourth row from the top, indicating a movement of an actual black pawn from the fourth square of the second row to the fourth square of the fourth row from the top, to answer the :first play, the black pawn so moved into position being represented by the Iirst of a long series of characters, showing that the pawn so moved is to remain on that square through a number of plays. A 'third forward movement of the carrier will cause some other white'character to disappear from beneath one square and to appear beneath another square, indicating a move of the piece or man represented by that character from the square from which it has disappeared to the square at which it appears, and so on throughout the game, each diagram diering from the next previous diagram in that the position of one, or it may be, of more than one of the characters of the diagram, is changed, in order to indicate a movement of the piece or man, or pieces or men, represented by said character or characters upon the board.

The number of characters in any particular series determines the number of moves through which the piece or man represented by that character remains in the same position upon the board, and as soon as one series of characters terminates, showing a movement of the piece or man represented by that character from a particular square, a new series begins beneath some other square, to indicate that the piece or man represented by the character which has so disappeared has been removed to a new square, or -else a series of new characters begins beneath the same square, to indicate that the piece or man represented by the character which has so disappeared is replaced upon the board by another piece or man represented by the new characters. It will be seen that in this manner any game of chess, or any so-called opening or analysis of a game of chess, may be placed in diagrammatical form upon the carrier, which latter, by proper movements, accurately displays the successive movements of the game, opening or analysis. In this way standard games by expert players, and also the openings or analyses as given in standard books treating of the game of chess, may be used by students in examining the features of the game and the best manner of playing the same.` It may also be used for amusement, and instead of chess the board may be so divided and the characters may be such as to show the successive plays or moves of any other game in which objects, commonly called pieces or men, are moved about upon a boarda In the construction Figs. 1 and 2, alternate moves of the carrier cause successive moves of aparticular side of the game. For instance,

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the first, third and fifth moves of the carrier represent the first, second and third moves of the white pieces vor men, while the second, fourth and sixth moves of the carrier represent the first, second and third -moves of the black` pieces or men, so that the carrier must be of such length as to contain twice as many diagrams as there are moves in the game, each separate diagram showing a different position of one of the pieces or men, or, it may be, of more than one upon the board.

While I prefer to employ an apparatus constructed as in Fig. 1, yet my invention is not restricted to such construction, for the same idea may be embodied in various constructions difteringvfrom Figs. l and 2. Forexample, the openings' in the squares ofv the board may be all at the centers of the squares,

instead of at the sides, as in Figs. I and 2, and the carrier may be moved obliquely instead of parallel to the side of the board, at such an angle that the characters of any particular series upon the carrier shall appear only through a particular opening, exactly as in the construction described above in detail.

In Fig. 3 e represents a transparent board, such for instance, as a sheet of celluloid, upon which the squares are indicated by means of lines e.

At the under side of the board e are suitable holders 62, into Which may be placed successivelycards or carriers having arranged diagrammatically upon them the characters of the game7 each card or carrier representing a different position of the characters or movable pieces of the game whichare easily'v discernible through the transparent board,

- and appear as though the characters were upon the board itself. e

Figs. 3 and 4: show one embodiment of my invention other than that shown in Figs. l and 2, and serve to illustrate the scope of` the invention and the various constructions in which it may be embodied.

l. In a game apparatus of the class described, a game board divided into squares provided with a holder, in combination with a series of diagrams each composed of a plurality of characters and each showing a different arrangement of the characters, and one or more diagram carriers adapted to be supported nby said holder, whereby the said diagrams may be displayed successively in play- ,ing position under said board, to illustrate game substantially as 4of a game substantially as described.

3. In a game apparatus of the class described, a game board divided into squares arranged in longitudinal and cross series, each square having an opening through which diagram characters are visible, the openings in successive squares of Y each long series being laterally offset one from another, whereby each opening may co-operate with a different line of characters on the diagrams, combined with acarrier movable in a line substantially parallel with said longitudinal series of squares; and a plurality of character diagrams arranged on said carrier, the characters of the several diagrams ranging in longitudinal series parallel with the direction of movement of said carrier, substantially as described. Y In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN C. HOWELL.

Witnessesz' GEO. W. GREGORY, JOHN O. EDWARDS. 

